jagur wrote:
*
how long did that take? to me,beyond the physical is the most amazing
portion of the story.i carry the tools to do it but dread the time i
have to.this is also the reason i also use a layer of foam on top with
the air.lesser minds have said to just chuck it,not true!
*

The air seat repair was actually quicker than I expected. It was nice
to do it at the cabin where I had a place to sit down and spread out my
tools. I didn't want to do it sitting on the trail in the dirt. The
part I was most worried about was finding the hole. I was worried that
it might be such a small hole I wouldn't be able to find it, and I
didn't have a tub of soapy water handy up there to make finding the leak
easier. Fortunately I was able to over-inflate the tube and quickly
find the leak.

I only took the rear bumper off and left the front bumper and seat cover
on. I pulled the air pillow out from the back. Patched the tube and
then slid the air pillow back in. It was quick. Less time that it
would have taken to repair a flat Gazz.

It wasn't perfect. The tube ended up with some lumps and folds that it
shouldn't have so the result wasn't perfect. But it was certainly good
enough. I'm going to rip the whole seat apart anyways now and put in a
new tube so I'll get it perfect then. The tube was quite chafed and
needs to be replaced.

There was tube dust (very much like eraser rubbings) all over in the air
pillow. The tube needs to be replaced. I'll have to put air seat tube
replacement on my annual uni maintenance schedule. It's better to
replace it before it gets in a condition where it gets worn spots from
chafing.

I only bring a pump, patch kit, spare 24x3 tube, and all the tools
necessary to tighten every nut and bolt when I go on long rides. For
short rides I just carry a few allen keys. For short rides I figure
that it would be easier to just walk back to the car than do a trailside
tire repair. Fortunately this qualified as a long ride so I brought my
tools. The only thing I didn't bring was a spare 16" tube for the air
seat.

What surprised me is that I didn't get angry when my seat went flat. I
can get angry at my uni when parts fail on me, especially on a ride that
I've dedicated the entire day too along with all the travel time. I was
actually so nonchalant about it that I didn't even bother to fix it
until 10 miles later. Weird.

I'm sure if Greg was there he'd have been egging me on to get me angry.


--
john_childs - Guinness Mojo

john_childs (at) hotmail (dot) com
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